The Pentagon presented a grim portrait of the Afghanistan war Thursday, offering no assurances about how long Americans will be fighting there or how many U.S. combat troops it will take to win.

Defeating the Taliban and al-Qaida will take "a few years," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, with success on a larger scale in the desperately poor country a much longer proposition. He acknowledged that the Taliban has a firm hold on parts of the country President Barack Obama has called vital to U.S. security.

Congress wants answers to what lawmakers described as basic questions to soothe a war-weary American public.

"In the intelligence business, we always used to categorize information in two ways, secrets and mysteries," Gates, a former CIA director, told a Pentagon news conference.

He added: "Mysteries were those where there were too many variables to predict. And I think that how long U.S. forces will be in Afghanistan is in that area."

With 62,000 U.S. troops already in the country, and another 6,000 headed there by the end of the year, Gates suggested there is little appetite in Washington to add many more.

Mysteries? Variables? Predictions? What are those?

According to the Pacifistic and Appeasing LefTards, the Bush Administration was held to a standard of having all the answers beforehand; before one U.S. Soldier set foot on Afghanistan soil.

The Left afforded no variables or mysteries to the Bush Admin. According to The Liberals, Bush was supposed to have all the answers to all the variables and all the possible scenarios and outcomes prior to sending Troops into Afghanistan.

And more U.S. Troops being deployed to Afghanistan? Why, this can only mean one thing and one thing only: Dear Leader His Excellency Barack Hussein Obama, Junior is a WARMONGER! A WARMONGER!

"No More Blood For Poppies!"

"No More Blood For Heroin!"

"Stop Obama's ILLEGAL OCCUPATION OF AFGHANISTAN!"

"BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!"

He's not my Führer!

What are the benchmarks for Afghanistan? There are none. Why not? Because The Kenyan is in charge.

What and how has Pbama defined as "success" in Afghanistan? He hasn't. Why not? Because The Kenyan is in charge.

Are his Cultists asking and pressing him for answers to these questions in the same manner they pressed W. Bush? Heh, don't make me laugh. The Marxist is in charge.

Where are the Usual Gang of Pillow-Biting Pbama Cultists and their vocal anti-war protests these days? Oh, they've packed up their signs and have gone home. Their favorite Marxist is in charge.

Um...how did the USSR fare in their decade-long battle with Afghanistan? The Cultists should revisit that issue and study-up on it. But then again, doing so would result in them having to accept FACTS. And as we all know, they cannot accept facts, only rabidly, brain-destroying syphilitic beliefs.

There's a new heroin on the street. It's half white and half brown. It claims to make you feel like you can change the world, but all it does is fuck everything up, rapes you hard, and drains you of all your money. It is best taken with koolaid.